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Hey there, everybody, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. And whether today is your first time tuning in or if you're a regular listener, we're really excited that you're here. Well, today, Pastor Rick is continuing his series called Discover your destiny. So get ready to explore the practical steps to grow in all areas of your life, spirit, mind, body, relationships, and even your career. So stick with us as we uncover God's incredible plan for your future. All right, well, I can't wait to get started today. Here is part two of a message called how can I know my destiny?

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Unpleasant obstacles are often God ordained opportunities for you to make a difference in the life of other people. Here's the problem. You never see it while you're in the pain. You just can't see the purpose when you're in the pain. Let me give you an example. The story of Job. That's the book next to Esther. You know this story. Job was the wealthiest man in the world. And one day, actually 48 hours, he lost all his wealth, he lost all his health, he lost all his family. He contracted a very painful terminal disease. And he starts saying, God, I've served you all my life. Why is this happening? And for 39 chapters, God says nothing. And he can't figure it out. Some of you are right there right now. You're still in chapter 39 or 35. It's not until chapter 40 that God starts explaining to Job what's going on. A lot of times, God is giving you a test, and God seems a million miles away, and you've been doing the right thing and everything still sucks in your life and you can't feel God. Did you know that in the book of Esther, this is the only book in the Bible that does not mention God? One time, God seems to be nowhere in this story. All the theologians, Jewish and Christian, say this is the hiddenness of God. And instead of God doing some fantastic miracle, he just uses normal people in normal situations making normal decisions to change the destiny of the world. God is hidden. Now, Job says it like this in job 23. Here on the screen, he's in the middle of all his problems, says, I don't see God. I don't see God in the north, for he's hidden. So I turn to the south, but I can't find him. But he knows where I'm going. In other words, I don't know where I'm going. But God does. And I'm gonna trust him, he says, and when he has tested me like gold in A fire. He will pronounce me innocent. This is an exhibit A faith. For I have stayed in God's path. Even though nothing in my life makes sense. I have followed his ways. Even though I'm in enormous pain, I have not turned aside. Even though I have lost everything. I have not departed from his commands. In other words, I'm still doing the right thing. I'm not a fair weather believer that if God doesn't bless me, I'm just gonna walk away from Him. But I have treasured his word in my heart. He says, I still trust God's word, God's promises. Even though I don't feel Him, I don't see him. And everything in my life sucks, right? He says his mind, God's mind concerning me remains unchanged. And who can turn him from his purposes for whatever he wants to do? He does. And here's the sign of hope. He will do for me. He will do for me. God says Job says He will do for me all he has planned. He. He controls my destiny. Now, nothing in your life is accidental. Zero, nada, zip. Both the pleasures and the pains, the assets and the liabilities, the limitations and the opportunities, they're all a part of the plan. In fact, even when and where you would be born, and the fact that you're here today is a part of the plan. Thousand years before you were born, God knew that you would be at Saddleback Church. I don't care if you're Buddhist, Baptist, Catholic, Jewish, Mormon, Muslim, atheist, agnostic or whatever. God knew you would be here. Cause he wanted to say to you, I have a destiny for you. I have a destiny for you. In fact, the Bible says this. Look in Acts 17 here on the screen. God determines the time set for them and the exact places they should live. You live here and you came here or you attend here because God planned it. And God wanted you to hear this message on Decade of Destiny because he wants to do something in your life different than the next 10 years. In the next 10 years he wants to do that. You're here. That's why he brought you here. Now notice this next verse, 1 Peter 4:10. In fact, let's read this verse allowed together with great gusto, whoever he is. All right, first Peter 4:10. Each of us, as good manager of God's different gifts, must use for the good of others the special gifts we have received from God. Now, very important verse, so let's leave it on the screen for just a minute. I want you to notice every phrase, each of us. That means Everybody's included. The there are no, no talent people. There are no gifted, less people. You got gifts. Everybody, Everybody has gifts. Everybody has talents. Each of us has good managers. The Bible word for management, if you've been in the small group studies these weeks, know is the word stewardship. The word steward means manager. The word manager means steward. Management is stewardship. It means what I have is on loan. What I think I own is only on loan. I don't really own anything. I don't own my wealth. God just loaned it to me for 80 years. Somebody's before me, it'll be, somebody's after me. I don't really own my health. I don't own my body. I don't own my time. It's all on loan from God. God is the owner of everything. He owns it all. We are simply stewards. We're simply managers. We are to use what he loans, but God owns for his glory and for his purpose. Now, it says as good managers, you are to manage the gifts God gave you. It says we must use. If you don't use it, you lose it. For the good of who would you circle that for the good of others? One of the most important lessons you have to learn in life is this. Your gifts are not for you. Hate to tell you that, but your gifts are not for you. They are for the benefit of other people. Your ability to make a sale, to close a deal, to crochet a sweater, to make a meal, to teach a child to whatever gift you've got, you know, be good at sports, be good at math, be good at music. Whatever your gifts were given for you to bless other people. God did not put you on this earth just to live for yourself as a selfish little clod, as George Bernard Shaw used to call it. No, God put you here to live for others. And your gifts are for the benefit of others, and their gifts are for the benefit of you. Now, there's a lot of things I'm not good at, but one thing I am good at is I'm good at teaching. If I don't use my gift, you get cheated. If you don't use your gift, I get cheated. No gift is more important than the others. They're all equally important. Some are hidden, some are visible, but they're all important. And God put you here not to just be a. A passenger on planet Earth, but to be a part of the crew. You're a part of the crew and to make a difference with your life. So one of the major decisions you're gonna have to make before we get into decade of destiny starting in January is why. And how am I gonna use my talents in the next 10 years? Am I gonna use my talents simply for me or am I gonna use them for the benefit of other people? God never blesses selfishness. If you think that the purpose of decade of destiny is just so you can get a whole lot more things, you're in the wrong church. Cause God never blesses selfishness. On the other hand, if you say I want to fulfill my destiny, which I guarantee you will include benefiting other people, if you bless other people, you will be blessed so much you won't be able to handle it. I am exhibitive a of this story that the more you give your life away, the more God blesses your life. The more you give it away, the more you think about others, not yourself, the more God blesses your life. So you have to decide, will I be a giver or a taker in life, takers are never happy. Givers are the happiest people in the world. Am I gonna be miserly? Which is miserable. Now here's your homework on this. Step one. I want you this week to go home and make a list of what has God given me to use for good. And you make a list of all things. What's my background? Good and bad. What is my parenting and family life like? Good and bad. What are the connections? What are the opportunities? What's my wealth? What's my language? What's my health? What are the things I struggle with in my health? What's my location? What's my passion? You look at everything in your life. None of this is insignificant. It's all a part of the plan for your destiny. As much as it was for Esther, this poor Jewish orphaned girl who becomes queen of Persia. So you've gotta know what you've got. And only until then can you then ask the question, what will be my greatest contribution? Now, the second key is just as important to discovering your destiny. Gifts plus needs plus calling equal destiny. So the second thing you have to do is this. I must identify the need, the needs that stir my heart. I must identify the needs that stir my heart. When you look around you and you say, what is it that that ticks me off? When I look at the world, what irritates me? When I look around and I see a need, a hurt, an injustice, a problem, what do I look around and I go, that's not right. What is it that if you could, you'd change it right now in our Society, what would you do? It's gonna be different for different people. Cause we have different passions. What is it that keeps you awake at night? What disturbs you? What causes you to think, somebody ought to do something about that? You see, everybody, I've learned at some point in their life has what I call a sod sat moment. S O D S A T sod sat moment. A sod sat moment is when you come and you say, somebody ought to do something about that. Everybody at some point has a sod sat moment. And you look around, you go, that's just not right. That's just not right. Somebody ought to do something about that. Moses had a sod sat moment. He looked around and he saw this entire nation in slavery. He goes, this is not right. Somebody ought to do something about that. Guy named Nehemiah in the Bible looked at the city of Jerusalem that was decaying and defeated, and the walls had all been broken down. And Nehemiah goes, somebody ought to do something about that. We need to rebuild that wall. King David wasn't king at the time. He sees an arrogant giant named Goliath making fun of God and all of his people. And he goes, somebody ought to do something about that Goliath guy. There's a guy named Haggai little book in the end of the Old Testament, and he looks around and says, hey, we're all living in these nice, beautiful paneled homes, and God doesn't even have a place of worship. Somebody ought to do something about that. There's a guy in the Bible named Amos, he wrote a little short book and he says, you know what? All these politicians, they're corrupt and they're unjust and they're ripping off the poor and the middle class. Somebody ought to do something about that. It's called the Book of Amos. Nothing happens to somebody. Has a sadsat moment. Now, this happens in Esther's life. She hears that her people, the Jews, are gonna be annihilated by this nutcase Haman, and that he's got her husband, the king, to sign off on a decree that all the Jews can be put to death without fear of retribution, and there's gonna be a genocide of her entire race. And she says, somebody ought to do something about that. Now remember, she has kept her identity a secret from her husband. And she's thinking, a lot of people are going to die if I don't act. Here's what happens. Esther four, four. She gets very disturbed. It says when Esther's servants told her what Mordecai this is her adopted father was doing because of this genocide thing coming up. She was deeply, deeply disturbed. Question. Does anything disturb you? Or is your life so self centered and so isolated? You're not living in community, you're living such an individualistic life that nothing disturbs you as long as it's not about you. That stuff can happen all around you and you're impervious to it. You don't even notice it. You're not disturbed about anything unless it's something disturbing you. You. You know, the thing I'm so proud of of you in this Saddleback church is that we have over 300 ministries, well over 300 ministries to the community that deal with hurts and habits and hangups, that deal with problems and injustices and difficulties simply because somebody in the church said somebody ought to do something about that. None of those 300 ministries did I personally start. They were started by you and by others. I gotta tell you a story. This week I had to go up to Pasadena and I went into the Pasadena library and after it was over, I walked across the street and I got a lunch. I ordered a sandwich, some coleslaw and some french fries. And I said, I wanna take it to go, I'll eat outside. So I had my lunch and I'm walking down Pasadena, downtown Pasadena, just looking for a place to sit down. And we come upon this big stone church and these big stone steps down the front. And there are three homeless guys sitting on these steps. There's a white guy with really bright red hair, there's a black guy, African American guy, and there's a Hispanic guy. And the three guys are just sitting there, homeless. So I walk over and I sit down among them. They go, oh, you brought lunch. And I said, that's exactly what I did. And as soon as I saw him, I thought, you got to help these people. So I walk over and I sit down and I start dividing it all up. I kind of felt like Jesus in the 5,000 feeding, you know. The only problem was mine wasn't multiplying. And so I only got one fourth of my lunch, okay, But I'm passing the french fries around, the coleslaw around, and we're splitting up the sandwich, the whole bit. And we had a great time just talking, chewing the fat, having a good time, and it's nice, you know. When I got ready to leave, I didn't really have any cash to give them, and I don't like to give cash to cause they might use it for drugs or to support an alcohol habit. Or something. But I opened up my wallet and I had three Starbucks cards in there. So I thought, oh, this is a good idea. Cause that can't be used for drugs. So I gave Meech a Starbucks card. And I said, you know, this will help you get some food. And as I'm starting to walk away, the white guy with the red hair says, I know who you are. And I go, excuse me. He says, let me tell you a story. He says, Five years ago, on the other side of LA, this is 30 miles away from Pasadena in East LA, five years ago, you pulled up to a taco shack. He said you were going up to visit the Dream Center. And he said you stopped there to get some tacos. And he said, you looked over and you saw me, and I was homeless. And he said, you looked at me and said, hey, would you like a burrito? And I said, yeah. And you said, would you like two? And I said, yeah. So he said, you bought me two burritos. He goes, you're Rick Warren. And I'm going, now what is the likelihood of me running into the same homeless guy in a metropolitan area of 15 million people, five years later, 40 miles away? And it's the same guy. Now, we were only two blocks away from Fuller Seminary. And these guys goes, we can't wait to tell all these Fuller students. We had lunch with Rick Warren. Oh, yeah, we're like this. We ate five years ago, too. You know the second thing? To know your destiny, you gotta find a need and you go after it. You say, identify the needs that stir my heart. Now, let me show you an amazing promise of God to those who get disturbed about helping people less fortunate. I want you to notice the actions and the promises. There are actually 10 promises of God to you in this passage. Isaiah, chapter 58. First, he tells you what to do. He says, remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice and let the oppressed go free. There are a lot of people put down by society. He said, you are to defend the defenseless.